PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The city’s deputy tax collector repeatedly manipulated tax records over the past nine years in a scheme that kept the city from selling his house in a tax sale, according to police.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The city’s deputy tax collector repeatedly manipulated tax records over the past nine years in a scheme that kept the city from selling his house in a tax sale, according to police.

The deputy collector, Marc Castaldi, used a computer to conceal the amount of taxes he owed on his house and property on King Philip Street, police said in a report.

Castaldi’s manipulations occurred on “numerous occasions” from 2005 through 2014 and kept the computer system from determining that the amount of taxes he owed was sufficient to trigger a tax sale, the report says.

Castaldi, 55, of 75 King Philip St., was charged Friday with using a computer for fraudulent purposes.

This was after he told Providence police detectives during a recorded interview that he had altered tax records affecting his personal property, according to the police report.

Castaldi cited his own “financial difficulties” over the past several years and, according to the police report, said, “I did for me what I would do for any citizens that was facing a hardship.”

The report also accuses Castaldi of adjusting the amount of interest owed to Providence, which affected the balance owed in taxes “for tax years 2004 to 2013.”

The report isn’t clear about how much in taxes Castaldi owes.

Police arrested Castaldi after consultation with the city’s director of administration, Lawrence Mancini, and Tax Collector John Murphy.

Castaldi admitted that keeping his home off the tax sale list saved him from a $300 fine, says the police report.

The city’s internal auditor, Matthew Clarkin, told The Providence Journal that he became interested in Castaldi’s tax situation during an examination of properties on the tax sale list and properties that owe taxes.

Castaldi has been suspended without pay, according to a spokesman for Mayor Angel Taveras, David Ortiz.

In reply to a reporter’s call Monday, Castaldi said: “I’m sorry. I don’t have a comment. Thank you.”